Queen Victoria's Family

Fülszöveg

Today, it is hard to imagine royalty without attendant paparazzi, yet during the early years of Victoria's reign, photography was just beginning. The first published royal photographs had such an impact upon the public that, before her youngest children had left the nursery, commercial photographs were available on the streets and were finding a ready market. Photography added a new dimension to the perception of the monarchy. For the first time ordinary people could see exactly what the Queen looked like, and they became aware of her family as human beings who wore ordinary day clothes, not gold and ermine; who were confident or shy before the camera; and whose children frowned, sulked or fidgeted. The Queen's grandchildren and great-grandchildren grew up accustomed to being
photographed. Their fashions and hairstyles were emulated and it became customary to display royal photographs beside more humble subjects in the family album.
This album of Queen Victoria's family explores... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Today, it is hard to imagine royalty without attendant paparazzi, yet during the early years of Victoria's reign, photography was just beginning. The first published royal photographs had such an impact upon the public that, before her youngest children had left the nursery, commercial photographs were available on the streets and were finding a ready market. Photography added a new dimension to the perception of the monarchy. For the first time ordinary people could see exactly what the Queen looked like, and they became aware of her family as human beings who wore ordinary day clothes, not gold and ermine; who were confident or shy before the camera; and whose children frowned, sulked or fidgeted. The Queen's grandchildren and great-grandchildren grew up accustomed to being
photographed. Their fashions and hairstyles were emulated and it became customary to display royal photographs beside more humble subjects in the family album.
This album of Queen Victoria's family explores the lives, personalities, tastes and contributions of the Queen, her children and her children's children through four generations. It brings together over three hundred images, both intimate and formal, and many previously unpublished, of a family spread throughout Europe who have played a large part in shaping the world as it is today. The Queen's line includes seven canonised saints, several honoured for their help to the Jews in the Second World War, influential patrons of medicine and the arts, military and naval commanders, sportsmen and women, and many of today's sovereigns. A few, on the other hand, became confirmed Nazis in their
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time. All inherited something from their formidable grandmother. Here, we see Prince Leopold dressed for a 'costume ball' to celebrate his sixth birthday, sharing a book in a quiet moment with his older brother, Arthur; the beautiful Romanov princesses with their mother, facing the camera just five years before they were brutally murdered; Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, on a route march with the Grenadier Guards, determined to play his part in the First World War; George and Gerald Lascelles, the young grandsons of George V and Queen Mary, complete with buckets and spades, posing on the beach at Littlehampton; and many more. Together their stories add up to a fascinating account of the family and the times in which they lived.
CHARLOTTE ZEEPVAT is a freelance writer and Historical Consultant of Royalty Digest. Her first book, Prince Leopold: The Untold Story of Queen Victoria's Youngest Son, was published to widespread acclaim in 1998; her second, Romanov Autumn: Stories from the Last Century of Imperial Russia was published in 1999. Vissza